I’ve just completed my first week of the Arabic intensive programme at Ebrahim College (part time) and here are some of my musings I thought I’d share with anyone interested to know what it’s like to be a learner of the Arabic language.
First comes writing practice. From making sure the ء does not have an elongated tail on top of the ا, to avoiding placing the dots too far apart on the ت, to comfortably writing م and ه in the middle of a word. My writing was starting to look less like a child had taken to a defective pen with honey laden fingers put to paper in the dark and more like a serious طالبةُ العلمِ (student of knowledge)… All in a week; progress!
In between lessons we would receive gems from our awesome teachers whose experience spanned years of study both here and abroad (such as South Africa!), for example, Arabic is sometimes referred to as the language of ض (daad). This is because there is no other language and in particular no other Semitic language which has this sound. ض (daad) is articulated when the upturned side or sides of the tongue touches the gums of the upper back teeth (pre-molars and molars); the raising of the back of the tongue also renders it a ‘heavy letter’ in the Arabic language.
We also put into perspective the reasons why we have embarked on this Arabic learning journey. We looked at a Hadith (saying) of the prophet Muhammed ﷺ ‘Whenever Allah wishes good for a person He grants them understanding of the Deen’. The concept of understanding refers to four sources of law: the Qur’an, Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad ﷺ ijma’h (consensus) and Qiyas (analogy). The way to access the two textual sources (Quran and sunnah) is through knowing the Arabic language. Furthermore, It’s also interesting to note that sunnah (سنة) is a broad term which is made up of the following three aspects:
اَقول – sayings of the prophet ﷺ
أَفعل – actions of the prophet ﷺ
تَقرير – tacit consent of the prophet ﷺ
The term Hadith حديث is sometimes interchangeably used with sunnah سنة however the linguistic meaning of Hadith refers to, more specifically, the speech of the prophet. Hence the term sunnah is used when making reference to more than the sayings of the prophet ﷺ.
Overall, instead of being overwhelmed, I am left excited by my first week of Arabic and anticipate many more gems to come along this special journey. This is my first learning blog and I intend to post one atleast every week until the end of my course. I hope there may be some useful anecdotes in these blogs for any prospective or current student of
Arabic.
Ma’salama!
Saying of the week: بركتٌ في الحركة! – there is blessing in movement!
Arabic gem of the week: if the Alif (ا)has no harakat (َ ِ ُ ) then it’s an Alif (ا) BUT if Alif (ا) has a harakat (أَ، اِ، اُ) then it’s a hamza (ء)!
Logicalwayfarer 